Purpose
by Captain Wolf
Summary: There are many tales about how Wes and Rui defeated Snagem along with Espeon and Umbreon, of course. But they are rarely finished. I give you all of it, in a single oneshot.


A while ago I wrote this story to (a), write a Pokemon Colosseum story that was actually completed, and (b), set forth one of my many theories about Wes' (or Seth's, whatever you want to call him) life, past, et cetera.

And yes, there is Wes and Rui fluff at the end. Go crazy.

(RE)EDITED

* * *

Purpose. It's a thing everyone wants in life, whether it be helping out in the kitchen to doing community service. It's like a desire to make a point of our bleak lives. For the majority of my life, Team Snagem was my purpose. 

I had joined the Organization at a young age, when I had nowhere else to turn to. I was ten. What happened to me in those first few years before Snagem isn't important. It made no difference to them that I was so young. Most of the members joined at a young age anyway. It wasn't like I was a special case.

And so I grew up with them, and, yes, I could say I was happy there. That may be an understatement. My purpose in Snagem was to climb the ranks, impress the Boss, just like everybody else. It kind of helped that I was particularly good at what I did. I practically skipped through the rankings, and on the way I met my two best friends: Umbreon and Espeon.

Funny story about those two. I met them a a year or so after joining. There had just been a big raid, and the Boss was assigning certain pokemon to certain people, the basics. And then the would-be-Umbreon, at that time a small Eevee, came barreling up to me screeching what were probably some bad words in his Eevee language. He succeeded in giving me scratches all over my arms before I finally managed to pick him up. At that point his brother, Espeon-to-be, tried to play the hero and save his sibling. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the scratch marks were still there. It was one of the best days of my life.

All was pretty good at Snagem. Truth be told, I'd probably be there today if it wasn't for that Shadow Pokemon Project.

The Shadow Pokemon Project. Where to begin…

I first heard about it when Genevieve, a high-ranking member, came around showing off some ultra powerful pokemon that had apparently been enhanced by some machine. I blew it off as another one of Genevieve's stories that she _always_ made up.

It never even crossed my mind until the day Cipher showed up.

Yes, Cipher. Their first visit was another very memorable day of my life.

They had a way of making their presence known. Before making an entrance they decided to announce themselves. They blew a hole the size of Groudon in the Hideout. After that a mob of Cipher Peons swarmed the building. We fought back, of course, but they had the element of surprise, and large numbers of people and pokemon were on their side. Even if they were awfully pathetic people and awfully weak pokemon. After all of the members (sadly, including me) were defeated, a high-ranking member of _their_ Organization went to talk to the boss about some stolen property. I doubted Gonzap even knew whom he had stolen from.

After that, Snagem was basically _ruled_ by Cipher, and life sucked. They had all of these _rules_ and _regulations_ and you had to memorize a_ bazillion_ codes… Ugh, I get sick just thinking about it.

But of course, I could live with that. And, you know, through that whole time, I don't think I ever once realized that Cipher wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon, that is, until The Last Straw.

Yes, it is capitalized because it is the name of a certain event that left me so mad I think I might've killed someone if given the chance.

That whole day was horrible. It began when I woke up and realized Umbreon and Espeon were missing. I let them sleep outside of their pokeballs, so they were usually by the side of my bed when I woke up. I figured they were either pulling some sort of prank or had woken up hungry and went to get something to eat. I'm beginning to think I brushed off every little detail as insignificant those days.

After I was fully awake and dressed I finally realized something was going on. Some people were shouting, and when I followed the commotion I found myself in Snagem's main laboratory. Inside were Umbreon, Espeon, the Boss, and several scientists from both Snagem and Cipher.

Espeon and Umbreon were the ones making all the noise. Umbreon was tearing through machinery like a drunken maniac while Espeon was giving all the humans in the room a death-glare. As I look back on that moment I often wonder if he had been using his psychic power to hold them in position or if they had just been too scared to move with his threatening gaze on them. Oh well, I guess it's not that important.

I immediately recognized the Shadow Machine (the machine they used to turn regular pokemon to Shadow Pokemon), and realized what had happened. They had tried to turn Umbreon and Espeon into Shadow Pokemon without even asking my consent!

Not that I would have said yes, but there is a distinct difference between asking nicely and not asking at all. Everyone else was paralyzed by Espeon's gaze. I'm surprised I didn't kill someone that day.

I can't recall the exact details about what happened after that, as I was practically blinded by rage. I do, however, distinctly remember saying some words that could get someone thrown into jail and at least _trying_ to attack someone.

I think it might have been adrenaline that cleared my mind because the next time I could think clearly was when I was setting off several bombs on the Snagem base. Any one of those outdid Cipher's previous one. I was so proud of myself.

I didn't stop until I came to the Outskirts Stand. That way I could be sure no one was tailing me. By that time my feat was already on the news.

Let's see, the next significant thing… Of course, Rui.

I don't even remember the names of those two thugs who had her. All that my mind brings back was their challenge, and I being in a serious mood for a fight. After that, things went kind of fast.

No, I definitely did_ not_ fall in love with Rui at first sight. In fact, my first thought after looking at her was that she needed a new hairdo. I don't know _what_ possessed me as to make such an impromptu decision as to agree to let her come with me. Maybe I was feeling sick, or maybe it was because I thought she was… dare I say it, _cute_.

Now my throat feels clammy.

I never told Rui that the reason I agreed to help her stop Cipher in the first place was to get revenge for my ruined life.

Anyway… traveling with Rui was a real pain at first. She kept nagging me about doing the _right_ thing and making _smart_ decisions. It was enough to make anyone sick. Luckily, she toned it down after the first week or so.

She was always so optimistic about the whole thing, defeating Cipher, that is. She'd cheer whenever I won one of my oh-so-frequent battles and fall on her knees to hug a newly purified pokemon. And, of course, she refused to say, "_If_ we defeat Cipher" and always said, "_when_ we defeat Cipher".

Despite myself, I can truly say that I enjoyed our journey through Orre, with Espeon and Umbreon being their usual bickering selves and Rui there to smile at every hardship.

But this wasn't an everlasting journey. In Snagem I could spend my whole life building a name for myself, but this had to come to an end.

I wasn't looking forward to it.

It came anyway, and it was surprisingly happy. Rui kept going on and on about how I was going to be a legend. A thief, turned a hero, blessed by Ho-oh himself. She found the idea amazing, and slowly I began to see it that way too.

But what now?

Snagem always gave me a purpose, and Cipher gave me another one, even if it was a little different. But now I have no purpose. I'm through with playing hero and I don't plan on joining Snagem again.

Now I don't know what to do.

* * *

"Hey, Wes!" Rui made a scene out of barging into the hotel room dressed in elaborate decorations that covered all of the clothes she wore under them, "Aren't you coming? They're having a celebration honoring all we did to stop Cipher! There's going to be cake and fireworks and everything in Phenac!" 

"Espi!" shouted an excited Espeon, who had come in after Rui.

"Umbri!" agreed the equally excited Umbreon who followed.

Wes had been in a quiet mood a moment before, and grumbled at coming out of it.

"You go ahead," he said, turning away from the journal he had been writing in. Rui's face instantly fell.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. Then she looked at the notebook and the question switched to: "What're you doing?"

Lightening fast, Wes swept the journal off the bed he was laying on and kicked it under it.

"Nothing," he said sternly.

"Okay, okay, I get it," said Rui, putting her hands up in defense. She reached under the bed and handed Wes his journal back. Espeon and Umbreon eyed it eagerly, intrigued by Wes' reaction and wondering if they could annoy their master with it in any way.

"Please come to the celebration?" pleaded Rui, "I really like fireworks."

Wes agreed, but he didn't seem too happy about it.

* * *

"All right, Wes," said Rui, "We've been here all night and not _once_ have you shown the least bit of enthusiasm. Spill it out." 

It was a moonless night, with the stars twinkling peacefully in the sky. The entire town was dyed red by the torches throughout it. People were laughing and a few had actually congratulated Wes on his victory.

"Relax," said Rui, her tone softer now, "No one here knows you were once part of Team Snagem, if that's it." She put a hand on Wes's shoulder.

"It's not that," said Wes, shaking Rui's hand off of him and sitting by the gigantic fountain in the center of town.

"Then, for the final time, _what's wrong_?" insisted Rui.

"It's just… the parties are all great now, but what's next? Everything that had a purpose in my life is over," the words came out of Wes's mouth so fast that it took Rui a minute to think of a response.

"Well… maybe we could look for one, a purpose, I mean. Explore the whole world if we need to," she said slowly. Wes looked at her, and then thought about what that meant.

"I'd like that," he said finally, "But I'll only go on one condition."

"What's that?" asked Rui, confused.

"We stay for the fireworks."


End file.
